The Doctor's Daughter
by restautas25
Summary: She sees different versions of him every time, but she knows it's the same man. He has the same look in his eyes. This is the story of a nobody who grows up to be the most important girl in the universe, and it's all because of that man in the blue box. AU as far as OC is concerned, but the main plot of the show is central to the story. Spoilers for S7.
1. Chapter 1

The first time I remember seeing him was when I was five. I've been very short all my life, and I was super short when I was in kindergarten. One day, I had to go to the bathroom during class. I raised my hand from my desk.

"Can I go to the bathroom?"

My teacher dismissed me, giving me a hall pass on my way out, and I hurried out of my classroom and walked quickly down the hall. My shoes tapped against the tile floor. I walked into the girl's bathroom. When I got out of the stall, I regarded the sink with impasse. The white porcelain stood at shoulder-level, too high for my short arms to reach it. I felt tears come to my face. I wanted to wash my hands, but I couldn't. It was impossible for me. Feeling resigned, I walked out of the bathroom and turned back towards the hallway, headed toward my classroom. Real tears came to my eyes. I was scared of going back into class, of my teacher asking me if I'd washed my hands. I'd have to say no, and then he would ask me why and I'd cry in front of everyone for sure. I made my feet move as slow as possible, to prolong the inevitable interaction.

Then, I heard the noise, and I stopped moving. It came from behind me, but I didn't want to turn around and look. It was a strange, wheezing, clunking noise. Once it stopped, I turned around to find a big blue box, just standing there. I was scared. I knew for a fact that it hadn't been there two seconds ago. The door opened and a tall man stepped out. He had really short hair, almost bald, and really big ears that stuck out from his head. He looked up at the ceiling, then around the hallway. Seeing me, his confused face lightened.

"Hello there!" he said. He spoke with a weird accent, not like anything I'd heard before. He walked out of the box, and started coming closer to me. I backed slowly away, remembering my parents' rules. _Stranger danger_. This man, who just showed up in the middle of my school's hallway, was coming towards me. He was certainly a stranger. He noticed I was backing away, and stopped coming forward. "Hold on, I'm not scary! My name's the Doctor. I'm here to help."

I didn't say anything. I was too scared to do anything, and my feet wouldn't move anymore. I looked down at them. They looked normal, but they still wouldn't move. I held out my hands. They didn't look dirty, but I knew they probably were, so that meant they were.

"What's wrong?" I looked up. The man, the "Doctor," had knelt down so he was eye level with me. He looked genuinely concerned, but I still didn't want to tell him anything. "Are you still scared of me?" I nodded. "Well then, I'll have to change that, won't I? Rose!" He called back to his box. A girl walked out of the box. She had blond hair tied back in a ponytail. When she saw me, she immediately looked at the Doctor.

"But Doctor, isn't that—" She whispered to him, but I could still hear it in the quiet hallway.

"Shh," He told her, nodding in my direction. The girl changed her tone immediately.

Hi," she said. She sounded nice. "My name's Rose. What's yours?"

"S-s-sam," I said.

"Hi Sam. Is there something wrong? Were you crying?" I brushed at my cheeks. I was, in fact, still crying, so I nodded. "What were you crying about? What happened?"

"I couldn't wash my hands," I said quietly. "I couldn't reach the sink."

I expected her to look at me strangely, stifle a grin, then propose a logical solution that didn't involve her. But instead, she walked over to me. I didn't move away, and she took my hand.

"Where's the bathroom, Sam?" I pointed down the hallway, past the big blue box. "Well, let's go there, shall we?" I nodded again. "We'll be right back, Doctor." She walked me to the bathroom, holding me up so I could wash my hands. When I'd finished, she pulled down some paper towels from the dispenser and handed them to me. "All better?" She smiled kindly down at me. I nodded and smiled. She took my hand again and led me back into the hallway. The Doctor was leaning against his box, chatting with another man who I hadn't seen before. Had he come from the box, too? How could three people fit in a box so small?

The Doctor smiled at me. "Are you better now, Sam?" I nodded.

"Thanks," I said.

"Our pleasure," he replied. "Now that you're all settled, I think we should be moving on, don't you two?" They nodded.

"Wait," I said, "Won't you tell me who you are? And how did you get that box there?"

"Oh, right, of course! This is my friend Jack."

The man, Jack, waved at me. "Hi there." The Doctor mockingly pushed him.

"Don't even start, Jack, she's…how old are you?" I held up my right hand, all my fingers outstretched.

"You're _five_! My, how time flies. Jack, she's only five."

"I'm just saying hi, Doctor! Just saying hi." He winked at me. I grinned, sheepishly.

"And what's your name?" I pointed at the Doctor.

"I already told you who I am, Sam! I'm the Doctor."

"But Doctor What? All the doctors have a name. What's your name?"

He grinned. "Just 'the Doctor.' I like your logic, though. Don't lose that." And with that, he walked back into his blue box, the other two following him. The door shut, and the noise started again. I don't know what I expected, but the box just kept fading in and out. It kept going, until it finally settled on in, and the door opened again. The Doctor popped out and walked towards me. He got down on his knees and hugged me. I didn't know what to do, so I hugged him back.

"I love you, Samantha," he whispered in my ear. Then he was off again, the box disappearing for good this time.

I didn't tell anyone in class what had happened. My teacher accepted the hall pass without comment, and I went back to my seat as quietly as I had left, contemplating the events of the past few minutes. There was something about that blue box that seemed _homey_…


	2. Chapter 2

I don't remember seeing him again until much, much later. Since I was five, I'd forgotten about seeing the blue box in kindergarten. I had brushed it off as a weird dream instead. Since I was in high school now, I had outgrown the possibilities of stuff like that happening.

It was almost my fifteenth birthday. I was walking home from the library when I saw the blue box again, just sitting there, on the corner, a block away. It was on the sidewalk in front of our lawn. I saw it through the parking lot across the street, because most of the cars had left now, since people were headed home for the day. The few pedestrians left just walked past it, without noticing the misplaced landmark. I stared at it. It had to be a trick. It was just some people playing a trick, it had to be. April fool's day was coming up in a few weeks, maybe people chose to prank someone prematurely. I started towards the box, pausing as I crossed the street, then running through the parking lot. I jumped over the parking blocks, heading into a full-on sprint towards the box. As I crossed the street again, the door to the box opened, and a man jumped out excitedly. He whirled around, supposedly taking in all his surroundings, before turning to face me. He wore an outdated tweed outfit with a bow tie. His face looked like a young man's, but his clothing choice was somewhat odd. His eyes, too. They didn't look like a young person's. Instead, they were much, much older. I saw the pain he must have experienced, and I felt sorry for him before he'd even spoken.

"Hello there!" The man boisterously crowed, "You must be Sam." I stopped on the edge of my sidewalk. How did he know my name? I was a nobody.

"…hello?" I said back cautiously. "Who are you? Is this some kind of joke?"

The man's eyebrows furrowed. "Joke? What do you mean? I never play jokes, unless they're funny. In this case, a joke wouldn't be funny at all." I was startled. He sounded sort of familiar, but he was so different at the same time. I didn't trust him.

"Okay, I'm going inside now," I said. I moved towards my front door as quickly as I could, grabbing my key out from my backpack. "Goodbye, crazy guy. See ya again, hopefully never."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Where do you think you're going?" He rushed towards me, grabbing my wrist, which was about to put my key in the lock. I pulled it back instinctively, passing the key to my other hand so he wouldn't be able to grab it and get into my house.

"I'm going inside and locking the door! Let go of me!"

He let go. I regained my composure.

"But you can't go inside," he said. I turned to look at him. He looked at me with eyes like a sad puppy. But with their age, it made them look more like a sad old dog's.

"Why not? Who are you? What are you doing here? Is this some kind of prank?"

He looked at me quizzically. "Of course I'm not a prank, why would I be? I'm the real deal, the _real _Doctor!" He twirled around as he said "Doctor," his tweed coat tailing him all the way around. He bent down on his knees and grinned. "Don't you recognize me?"

"No, I don't. You're a stranger." I remembered my mom's rules. _Stranger danger._ I shook my head. I didn't know whom he was talking about. I didn't know who "the Doctor" was.

"All right, maybe this will jog your memory," he said. He cleared his throat. "When you were five years old, my friend helped you wash your hands."

I was stunned. As he said it, the memory came flooding back. The almost bald guy, the blond girl, and the other one, in the hallway at school. The blue box. The Doctor.

"But…but…that was just a dream. It's not real. How can you know what I dreamt about?"

"I know, because it wasn't a dream. I was really there. Well, a different me, but it's the same me. Well, not really, but I'm sure you know what I mean." I burst out laughing, against my brain's warning. He just acted so funny, I had to.

"Doctor!" a voice from inside the box called. It sounded like a woman's voice.

"Yes, Amy, come out here! There's someone I want you to meet. Bring Rory too." A redheaded girl stepped out of the box, pulling along with a sandy haired man with her. She looked at me in astonishment.

"Who are you?" she asked. She had an accent like the Doctor, but it was different than his.

"I'm Sam," I said. "I live here." I gestured to my house. She looked up at it, then nodded.

"Nice house," the man, probably Rory, commented.

"Yes, well, I suppose," the Doctor intervened. "Now then, we have things to do. Sam, come with me."

What? What did he mean, "come with him?" This was too weird.

"I'm not going with you. I don't even know you. Goodbye." I walked back into my house, ready to put this weird interaction all behind me.

"Samantha, please. Come with us." I turned around. It was the other man, the one with the sandy hair, who had spoken. He looked at me pleadingly.

"But you _do_ know me, Sam. Remember Disneyland? And the escaped dogs?" Images came flooding back again.

I was in Disneyland the summer after kindergarten. I had gotten lost, and a nice man in a suit with a friend named Donna had helped me find my parents again. My parents had been mad, not at me, but at the stranger, and forbade me from leaving them again.

Then there was the time where I forgot to lock the dogs' kennel, and they came rushing out past me. I had fallen down, and a man, _the man standing in front of me_, had helped me get them back inside. I don't know how he got into my backyard, but he left just as suddenly as he had come—without warning. I looked at the Doctor. He wore the same clothes, and he looked generally the same. His bowtie was a different color, but that was about it.

"So you're actually the Doctor?"

"Yep! Now come along."

I walked into the box. It huge on the inside. It was colorful, too, with lights all around the center of the room, which I figured was the control board or something like that. Amy and Rory followed me in, closing the door behind me. The Doctor jumped up past the stairs to twirl around the center, flipping what looked like random buttons as he babbled to himself.

"Yes! Come along, Sam! No, that doesn't flow as well. Hmm…Come along, Samantha?" He pulled down a large lever and the box shook. "No. Hang on, your last name. It's…something to do with 'ond,' isn't it? Pond, ond, frond, what is it?" Next to me, Amy suddenly burst into a coughing fit that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Rory nudged me.

"Bertrand?" I said reluctantly, almost yelling to be heard over the moving box, feeling that I would probably regret telling him that later.

"Right! Bertrand! I knew that. Silly me, forgetful sometimes. I blame the…the…" he flailed his hands around, searching for the right word. "I blame the whatchamacallits. No, those are actually real, on planet Whodunit. Lovely creatures. Too much sugar in your tea, though, you've got to watch out. But you know what I mean, right?" I nodded, not really knowing what was going on. "Well then! I'm taking you someplace special! Geronimooooo!" He yelled as he pulled another lever, causing the box to shake even more.

I looked over at Amy and Rory. "Is he always hyper like this?"

"Nah," Rory replied, shaking his head in a non-convincing way, "just when he's excited about something. It's _definitely_ not you." He smiled at me.

I grinned and grabbed hold of the railing. This was going to be fun.


	3. Chapter 3

When the box landed, I was the first to get out. The movement was so rocky and shaky that my stomach didn't feel like it could handle much more. Once outside, after I regained my balance, I started to notice my surroundings.

We had actually moved. We certainly weren't on the same street as my house. In fact, it didn't look familiar at all. I stood on the sidewalk of a quiet-looking residential street with a park behind me. Across the street, there were houses.

"Where are we?" I asked Amy as she poked her head out of the box.

As she took in where we were, she looked confused. Coming out of the box fully, she yelled, "Doctor! Why are we back home?"

Rory walked out of the box, checking across the street to make sure Amy was right. "Yeah, Doctor, are you dropping us off? You only just picked us up." Finally, the Doctor emerged from the box, closing the door behind him. Noticing this, Rory continued, "By your standards, that trip was _ultra_-boring."

"Yes Rory, I know. But I don't always pick you up to go somewhere fabulous, do I?"

"Uh, yeah, you kind of do," Amy said. She nudged the Doctor playfully in the arm.

"Yes, well," he was taken aback and looked around before returning to the conversation. "Anyway, this is my _ultra_-special destination! Let's go inside, shall we?"

Amy looked at Rory. Rory shrugged. The three started across the street towards the house with a blue door. I just followed them, wondering what the Doctor could mean. He didn't make a lot of sense. He just babbled on and expected the three of us to keep up.

"Would someone like to tell me what's going on? I don't know where I am, and I would very much like to find out, seeing how I'm supposed to be at home right now, doing homework for my math test tomorrow."

"Oh, homework, I never much liked it. Too boring and repetitive. Especially those math problems, those were tortuous until I got to advanced quantifical applications of Calculus-based iterations. That class was a treat!" The Doctor rambled on. Rory unlocked the blue door. I was pretty sure that it was the same color of the box we had just traveled in. Then I realized they hadn't answered any of my questions.

"Here we are," the Doctor said, "home sweet home."

The house was really nice. It was cleaner than mine. There wasn't trash all over the sofa and coffee table, and the floor wasn't scattered with crumbs. I was jealous. I followed them into the kitchen, where Amy got out fish sticks from the freezer and put some in the microwave. While it was heating, she got out something that looked a little like pudding from the refrigerator.

"What are you making?" I asked. Fish sticks I got, that was a reasonable snack, but what was with the pudding? Was that dessert?

"Fish fingers and custard," she replied.

"What's custard?"

The Doctor looked sharply at me. "D'you mean to say you've never heard of custard before? It's a staple of my diet! I have it at least one a day!"

I shook my head. "Is it like pudding? I like pudding."

"Yeah, think of it like pudding, except creamier."

"Okay."

"It's actually nothing like that. But if that makes you feel better, fantastic. Custard is _better_." His eyes widened as he said it, making him look like an overexcited twelve year old waiting for some candy.

"Sure..." I said, disbelievingly.

"Hey, he's right, you know. Fish fingers and custard are the best," Amy said, taking the plate from the microwave and setting it on the counter. "He introduced it to me when I was just a little kid."

Wait. These three were best friends, it seemed like. They knew a lot about each other. The Doctor seemed to be the odd one out, the weird one. The other two were a couple, I was guessing, because Amy hadn't said "my house" when we walked out of the box. Neither Amy or Rory had established they had separate houses. Not to mention the fact that Amy had a wedding ring on, and Rory seemed to know where everything in the house was too. The three must have known each other for a very long time, if the Doctor had met Amy as a little girl.

"So Doctor, why are we back home? And why is Sam with us?" Amy asked, jerking her head in my direction when she said my name.

"I'm giving all three of you a fantastic present!" He bobbed up and down on the the balls of his feet, looking excited again. "Each other!" Seeing our confused faces, he continued, "Sam, you're going to live with Amy and Rory from now on. It's for your own good. It was getting way too da—"

"Doctor, can we talk?" Rory intervened. Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed the Doctor's arm and practically dragged him into the hallway. I heard the Doctor's protests, but they were quickly quieted. Amy followed them. I tried to hear what they were talking about, but they were talking too quietly. Why would I move in with these people I'd never met? We'd only met five minutes ago. We didn't even know each other.

The three adults came into the kitchen again. "Right," the Doctor started, "Sam, you're going to live here with the Ponds," he nodded to the couple. _Pond_ must be Rory's last name, I thought. The couple didn't look hesitant at all. They did look slightly worried, though. "We can enroll you in a school, you can make friends, and you'll be safe here."

Suddenly, I realized what was happening. They were _moving_ me. As bad as life got back home, I still knew it. It was still home for me. I started ranting my feelings. "Was I not safe back home? I don't even know where I am! How am I supposed to just move and forget my old life?"

Amy stepped forward. "Don't worry, Sam, it'll be alright. The Doctor's plan is a good one. We'll take care of you."

Was it just me, or were they not making any sense? "Can you at least tell me why I'm suddenly moving?" The Doctor shook his head, reluctantly it seemed. "Do I have a choice in the matter?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"No, not really," Rory said, shaking his head. I looked him in the eye. His face was impassive, but firm. I'd never been able to argue with a face like that.

"Fine," I acquiesced, "but you have to promise you'll tell me the reason eventually."

"I promise, Samantha," the Doctor said. He looked absolutely serious, and his eyes were sad again, so I think he was telling the truth. I nodded, but he wasn't finished yet. "I'll tell you eventually...if you promise me you'll stay safe."

I agreed, but not without wondering what this all could possibly mean.


	4. Chapter 4

The day after I got to the Ponds' house, my life got exciting. Not the boring "new school, new friends, new stuff" kind of exciting. More like the "I killed a teacher on my first day" kind of exciting. That's the bad kind.

I enrolled in a school nearby, which was supposed to be really cutting-edge. It was called Park Vale, which I thought was an interesting name for a school. But they had interesting school names in America, too, so I guess it wasn't that strange. I was only disappointed there wasn't a playground on the campus. I mean, it was called _Park _Vale. On my first day there, I wandered around by myself. The school was really big, and I was constantly getting myself lost. My class after lunch was supposed to be English, but I somehow ended up at the other end of the school in a science classroom. I sat down next to this guy. When the teacher started talking about valence electrons, I knew I was in the wrong spot. I raised my hand.

"Sir, I think I'm in the wrong class, but it's my first day here and I don't know where to go." The teacher looked at me critically, like it was my fault I didn't stop myself from getting lost.

"Luke," he said exasperatedly, nodding at the guy sitting next to me, "take her to her classroom, please? I don't think you'll miss much of the lesson, anyway." Luke, the boy, nodded and stood up. I made my way out of the room, avoiding backpacks and other students' chairs, then I stood aside to let him lead the way.

"What's your name?" He asked as we began walking through the hallway.

"Sam," I told him. When I spoke, I could have sworn his eyes widened and glanced down to my legs. But when I blinked, they were back to normal, so I kept talking. "It's my first day here. I think my map must have been upside down. All your hallways look the same!" I pulled out the map from my pocket, turning it in different directions to try to figure out where we were. "Are we here?" I pointed to a spot that looked similar to our surroundings. Luke paused and examined my map. He shook his head. "You're looking at the wrong level. You're looking at level two, we're on level one."

"But we're on the second floor!"

"You're from America, aren't you?" I nodded. "That's your problem. Here in England, our storey numbers start on your second floor. We're on the first floor now."

"Oh." That was a stupid mistake. "So do I have to go downstairs?"

"No, we have to go up." We made our way through the hallway, to where I knew the staircase was. "So how long have you been in England?"

"Not very long," I said. Amy and Rory had told me to not tell people too much about myself, as part of my promise to the Doctor. "I just moved out here to stay with some friends of the family, and they wanted me to go to school."

"Well, this is a good school. I like it here. I think you will, too." I turned to look at him as we climbed the stairs. We went into the right hallway this time, and he took me to the door of my English class. "Your teacher, Ms. Oswin, she's new, just started last week. I like her a lot." I thanked him for taking me there, and I opened the door to the classroom.

Ms. Oswin was a very nice teacher. She didn't get mad at me for being late, especially after Luke explained how I had gotten lost. The class, on the other hand, sniggered when Luke explained my situation to her. I looked at them. They didn't look like they liked Luke. Then he left, and Ms. Oswin handed me the book we were reading. I sat down in a desk near the front of the room, right next to the window. As Ms. Oswin continued her explanation on the book, I looked more closely at the cover. It was _To Kill A Mockingbird_, which I had already read that year in school. Based on her speech, they had just started reading the trial.

"Now, who can tell me what the mockingbird represents?" I almost raised my hand. I'd loved this book. My teacher had given me extra credit for an essay I had written outside of class, in which I had addressed this very topic. But I didn't want to raise my hand. I was scared of being that know-it-all new kid, especially if I had associated myself with the unpopular person. That was a good way to get bullied, and I'd promised the Doctor I would stay out of trouble.

No one raised their hand, though, so I reluctantly held mine up against the force of gravity trying to glue it to the desk.

"Yes, Sam?"

"The mockingbird symbolizes anyone who is persecuted. Tom obviously can be the mockingbird, but there are others, too. There's Scout, for being able to read, and the dog with rabies. They are all disliked, even though they have admirable qualities."

Ms. Oswin looked very impressed. "Can you explain the dog example a bit more? I've never heard it put that way."

The dog had been one of my examples in my essay. "Dogs bring happiness and comfort to people. That example goes with the rest of them, because the dog had a disease, like many people thought Tom's race was like a disease."

The class was dead silent for a moment. Then, the person behind me started clapping. It spread around the room, until even Ms. Oswin was clapping for a moment. I felt a smile spread across my face.

Then I looked out the window.

I saw the Doctor, but it wasn't the one I had seen yesterday. It was the one I saw in Disneyland when I was five. He had spiky hair, a trench coat, but no bow tie. I saw him spin around, as if he was looking for something. He had a confused look in his eyes. Ms. Oswin continued with the lesson, but I didn't listen anymore. I stared at the Doctor, trying to get him to look up at me. A woman came up behind him, running. She had red hair, and she was very tall. It was the same woman who was his friend when I was in Disneyland. Her name was Donna, and she was nice.

But what were they doing here? I looked back to the front of the classroom. Ms. Oswin had moved on to the topic of why Mr. Ewell hadn't called a doctor for Mayella. While she was talking, I glanced out the window again, and saw the Doctor looking straight at me. He was pointing a silver thing in my direction with a blue tip. When he saw me looking, he lowered it. I blinked at him. He blinked at me. Then he smiled and held up a hand, and mouthed words that I think said "stay there." It was either that, or "slay hair," but the latter didn't really seem like an instruction. Then he ran out of sight, into the school. Donna looked up at me in confusion, then followed the Doctor.

Apparently, the classes after lunch went much faster than the ones before it, so when the bell rang, I was surprised. The class quickly filed out, but I stayed. Ms. Oswin looked at me. "So, are you new to the area?"

I nodded. "I moved here yesterday," I told her. "I'm still getting used to being in a different country."

She looked surprised. "You're not from England? I never would have guessed."

"Doesn't my accent give it away?"

"Lots of English people have an American accent," she said. She stacked some of her books on her desk, and straightened a little statue on the corner of her desk. It was a very nice-looking stone statue. It looked like an angel, with its face in its hands. I'd been to a Catholic church a few times, and I'd seen angel statues before.

"Are you Catholic?"I asked.

"No, I'm not. Why do you ask?" She looked up at me, smiling, and brushing away a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face.

"You have an angel statue on your desk." I pointed to it.

She glanced at it, then said dismissively, "Oh, that's another teacher's. I'm actually new here too, I just teach in whatever classrooms aren't being used." We made eye contact again, and smiled at each other. Then I looked back at the statue. Its hands had moved away from its face, which I could now see. It looked evil, demonic, even. I shouted in surprise, just as someone burst in through the classroom door. I looked up to see the Doctor, closely followed by Donna.

"SAM!" He yelled, looking at me. "You're in terrible—" he broke off, looking down at a device in his hand. He was carrying an abnormal-looking, weirdly shaped machine with an antenna. As he entered, I heard a distinctive ding come from it. The Doctor scanned the room with his device, until he saw the little statue on the desk.

Except, both Ms. Oswin and I had been watching him as he entered the room. When he caught sight of it, so did we. And it had moved.

It had grabbed onto Ms. Oswin's hand.

"Both of you...don't blink," the Doctor said. "Blink and you go back in time."

"Back in time...back...in time...THAT THING JUST MOVED!" Ms. Oswin shouted.

"Yes, yes, yes, I know."

"Can't you do something? Smash it, or put it under a jar? Throw it out the window?" She pleaded, but I saw him shake his head in my peripheral vision.

"I can't do anything now that it's got you. I am sorry. I am so, so—"

"No, don't apologize to me! Not when I'm about to go back in time!"

"Alright, okay. New consolation strategy."

"Just—just tell me who you are. And what this is."

"I'm the Doctor. I'm a time traveler, from outer space. I'm 905 years old, and that is a weeping angel. It moves when you're not looking."

Hang on. The Doctor...was an alien? And he was...old?!

"Can we stop it?" Ms. Oswin said. I heard her voice crack, and I pushed the new discoveries aside, focusing on the problem at hand. I got very scared.

The Doctor tried to explain what his options were. "I can smash it, but only when you're not attached to it. I'm so sorry." He did sound sorry. I heard what I assumed to be Donna sniffling in there background. "What's your name?"

Ms. Oswin took a deep breath in before answering. "My name is Clara Oswin."

"How long have you been teaching here?" His tone was very soothing, as he tried to comfort her.

"A few days."

"Do you have any family?"

"No."

The Doctor took a deep breath before speaking again. "Alright, so, Clara, can you tell me one thing I should know about you? One thing you want me to pass on?"

I saw her eyes widen. "If you're the Doctor...then this is what I'm supposed to do. I have to let it take me. But you," her voice got shaky, then it calmed and she sounded much more in control, "you have to smash the statue, as soon as it takes me. Then you three'll be safe. Got it?"

"Got it," he said. I started tearing up. I didn't know exactly what would happen, but I knew that if there was a moving statue involved, the end wouldn't be good. "Alright. Donna, Sam, Clara, on my count, you have to blink, okay? Then I'm going to pick it up and smash it on the ground." I nodded. I saw Ms. Oswin nod. "One...two...THREE!"

I blinked and held my eyes close. I heard a pop, then a smashing noise. I opened my eyes gingerly. Ms. Oswin was gone, and there were bits of gray stone on the floor.

I stood there in shock. The Doctor came over to me and hugged me tightly. I hugged him back, but I didn't take my eyes off where the statue had been a second ago.

Where Ms. Oswin had been a second ago.

"You're all right, Sam, you're okay. You're safe." He whispered to me, but I barely heard him.

"What happened here?" The Doctor let go and turned around. There was Luke, standing in the doorway, with a look of utter shock on his face.

The Doctor looked around. "Oh, just some experiments. Ms. Oswin had to go, such a tragedy. She needed to check out some important English-y manuscripts that involve broken statues. She had a breakthrough, so I don't suppose she'll be coming back to teach."

I rolled my eyes. Leave it to the Doctor to come up with our cover story.


	5. Chapter 5

Luke stared at us. "Are you sure?" He asked. He raised his eyebrow, looking first at me, then the Doctor, then Donna.

"Of course we're sure! We wouldn't tell you that if we weren't sure," Donna interjected. "And who, may I ask, are you? Isn't there a class you're supposed to be going to?" She pointed at him accusatorially.

"Yeah, but _she_ has a class to get to, too," he pointed back at me.

The Doctor turned to me. "You go here now?" He asked with a look of amazement on his face. I nodded. "Well, you'd better get to class, then! Off you pop!" He shooed us away.

Luke and I walked out of Ms. Oswin's classroom, towards the staircase. As I left, I thought heard someone whisper "Wow, she's gotten big!" When we were a hallway away from the staircase, I stopped and put my face in my hands. It was all getting too much. Ms. Oswin was far away by now, probably stuck in the 1600s or something. She was most likely dead by now. There was no way I could ever contact her again. There was no way I could save her.

"What's wrong?" Luke noticed I'd stopped.

"I killed her." Sure, the Doctor had wanted me to stay out of trouble, but I had just _met_ the Doctor again, and then my teacher had died. Somehow, it didn't match up.

"No, you didn't."

"What?" I looked up at him. He looked straight into my eyes, his own unwavering.

"You didn't kill her. She wanted you to know that."

"How would you know?"

"She sent me a letter this morning. It was on my doorstep." He pulled out a letter from his pocket and handed it to me. The letter was old, and it was written on yellowed paper. As I unfolded it, the bell rang, but I didn't care. I kept unfolding it, until I could read the faded cursive handwriting.

_Dearest Sam,_

_ First, let me say I hope you are well. Oh, who am I kidding? You just watched me being taken back in time, I know you must not be well. But I _want_ you to be well. And I think after reading this letter, you just might be. _

_ Now, I must tell you what happened to me. I was sent back in time. I was sent back to 1889, to Victorian London, where I have made an excellent life for myself. I have had a number of wonderful adventures, which includes leading an exciting double life, but nobody except you and me know! It is now 1891, and I thought I would write you a letter, in order to show you that not all hope is lost. From what I gathered during the short time we met, you are brilliant. You have a sharp mind. It's so funny, writing to you, because I know you won't be around for a hundred years. _

_ As for you not feeling bad, I knew I had to get sent back in time, because there's one thing my life seems to revolve around: the Doctor. I was born to save him. If being sent back in time was the way to save him, then so be it. Just know, it wasn't your fault. It was no one's fault. It was my choice, and I embraced it. _

_ With much affection,_

_ Your former teacher_

_ Ms. Clara Oswin Oswald_

I put the letter down, then looked up at Luke. "So, you see, it's all right. It's not your fault. The Doctor won't get mad at you. Besides, I can back you up if he does," he said, putting a hand on my back

"Do you know the Doctor?" I asked. The questions I had about him being a time traveler (and 905 years old) were still in the back of my mind. If Luke knew, maybe he could answer my questions.

"Yeah," he said. "I helped him save the world once. It was a great time. There were daleks everywhere, and I helped him defeat them. Then there was one time where he was at my mum's wedding, and he stopped it from happening, and the world didn't end _again_. And then, there was the time that he died, but he didn't really die, and it was just some alien's trap for us."

"Hold on. What?" I was extremely confused. "You just said words, right?" He nodded, laughing. "You're way too confusing. What the heck is a dalek?"

His face grew somber. "See, everyone used to know what it was. But then the Doctor must have done something, because no one remembers them now, except for my family and my friends. Even then, it sometimes seems like a dream."

"But how can you be sure it's real?"

"I don't know."

A teacher poked his head into the hallway and yelled at us to get to class. We hurried to the ground floor, where we both had Mathematics. When we got to class, Luke sat down in between a girl and a boy, leaving me to sit in the only empty seat in the back. I didn't pay attention. I could only think about what had just happened in Ms. Oswin's classroom, and the conversation I'd just had.

My last class went just the same as math, except I got there on time. I think it was a history class, but it might have been science, too. I wasn't paying attention. Instead, I doodled on my blank notebook with my pen. After class was done, I noticed I had a lot of pen marks on my hands, so I went to the bathroom to wash them off before heading home.

As I exited school, Luke stopped me for a moment. "I won't tell anyone about what happened," he said. "It'll stay our secret, okay?" I didn't see why it had to be kept a secret, but I figured there was probably a good reason. I nodded. He smiled. "I'll see you Monday, then?"

"Yeah, see you then," I said, and he turned and walked to the curb. He met up with the girl and boy he had sat with in math, and they all piled into an old green car.

I sat down on a bench near the curb, waiting for Amy or Rory to come pick me up. They lived close enough so I could walk back to their house, but they wanted me to get my bearings of the neighborhood first. I waited for about an hour before Rory pulled up. He was still in his hospital scrubs, and he looked very tired.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, as I climbed inside, "there was a huge car crash on the motorway, tons of people came in."

"It's no problem," I said. It really wasn't. Helping hurt people was more important than me getting picked up on time.

When we got back to the house, the blue box was parked across the street. When we approached the door, the Doctor opened it abruptly to greet us. It was the Doctor with the bow tie, not the one with the spiky hair.

"Hello, Sam! What a first day, eh?"

I ran up to him, pointing my finger directly in his face. "You, mister, have a lot of explaining to do." His face fell, then changed to an indignant look. Rory followed us inside and shut the door behind him.

"Now, you can yell at him all you want," he said. He looked amused, but I wasn't amused.

"How can you be there and here? How come you look different? Who was that Donna lady? And _why_ weren't you upset at my teacher dying?" I thought anyone would be upset at that.

"Hold on, you teacher _died_?" Amy interrupted.

"Yes, Ms.—what was her name?"

"Oswin," I supplied.

"Yes, Ms. Oswin. She got caught by a weeping angel, but I smashed it after it took her. There was nothing I could do. But I'm not really sad, because she _lived_ the rest of her life, Sam, I'm sure. All of the angels' victims do. They're the kindest killers. They send you back, and you live to death." I could have told him I knew that she turned out fine, that I had a letter from her, but I was too angry and it slipped my mind. "As for Donna, she was my companion a long, long time ago. Like Amy and Rory are now." I could tell the two were very confused, but they didn't interrupt any more, and I was glad about that. "As for me, that part's the best bit." He looked excited again. "I am the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord, an alien. I'm really, really old, about 1,030 now, and I travel in time. I also change faces sometimes, but you shouldn't worry about that. Just know that you saw me today. You saw me from my past, so that me didn't know about this me. He also doesn't know about Amy, or Rory, or Luke, for that matter."

"So you do know Luke?" I asked, seizing onto something I recognized in his words.

"Of course I know Luke! Brilliant kid. I like him a lot."

"Can I trust him? You told me I should stay away from people."

"No I didn't!" He exclaimed indignantly. "I said you should stay away from _trouble_. Sometimes they're one and the same, though, so watch out. But you can absolutely trust him."

I felt satisfied. Since all of my pressing questions were somewhat satisfactorily answered, I tried to get him to tell me something else, "Can you tell my why you took me here?"

"Haha, nice try," he laughed. "But no. Now go have some snacks or something, do your homework."

He left a moment later. That night, as I was laying in bed, I heard the sound of the blue box. I got up to go to the bathroom, and when. I passed by Amy and Rory's bedroom, they weren't there. I didn't pay much attention to it, though, and when I got up the next morning, Amy was in the kitchen making breakfast. She looked a little tired, though.


End file.
